Houston area refiners weather hurricane-force winds
Over 2mn b/d of US refining capacity faced destructive winds Thursday evening as a major storm blew through Houston, Texas, but the damage reported so far has been minimal.
Wind speeds of up to 78 Mph were recorded in northeast Houston and the Houston Ship Channel — home to five refineries with a combined 1.5mn b/d of capacity — faced winds up to 74 Mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Further South in Galveston Bay, where Valero and Marathon Petroleum refineries total 818,000 b/d of capacity, max wind speeds of 51 Mph were recorded.
Chevron's 112,000 b/d Pasadena refinery on the Ship Channel just east of downtown Houston sustained minor damage during the storm and continues to supply customers, the company said.
ExxonMobil's 564,000 b/d Baytown refinery on the Ship Channel and 369,000 b/d Beaumont, Texas, refinery further east faced no significant impact from the storm and the company continues to supply customers, a spokesperson told Argus.
Neither Phillips 66's 265,000 b/d Sweeny refinery southwest of Houston nor its 264,000 b/d Lake Charles refinery 140 miles east in Louisiana were affected by the storm, a spokesperson said.
There was no damage at Motiva's 626,000 b/d Port Arthur, Texas, refinery according to the company.
Marathon Petroleum declined to comment on operations at its 593,000 b/d Galveston Bay refinery.
Valero, LyondellBasell, Pemex, Total, Calcasieu and Citgo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on operations at their refineries in the Houston area, Port Arthur and Lake Charles.
A roughly eight-mile portion of the Houston Ship Channel from the Sidney Sherman Bridge to Greens Bayou closed from 9pm ET 16 May to 1am ET today when two ships brokeaway from their moorings, and officials looked in a potential fuel oil spill, according to the US Coast Guard.
The portion that closed provides access to Valero's 215,000 b/d Houston refinery, LyondellBasell's 264,000 b/d Houston refinery and Chevron's Pasadena refinery.
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Baghdad, KRG and IOCs to meet over oil exports
Baghdad, KRG and IOCs to meet over oil exports
Dubai, 9 June (Argus) — Iraq's oil ministry will meet on Sunday with the Iraqi Kurdistan ministry of natural resources (MNR) and international oil companies operating in the northern Kurdish region to discuss resuming Iraqi Kurdish crude exports via Turkey's Mediterranean Ceyhan port, a senior oil ministry source told Argus . The ministry had called for a meeting "as soon as possible" on 29 May "for the purpose of… reaching an agreement to accelerate the restart of production and resume the export of oil… according to the quantities specified in the budget law." Around 470,000 b/d of crude exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region have been absent from international markets since March 2023 when Turkey closed the pipeline linking oil fields in northern Iraq to Ceyhan. That move followed an international tribunal ruling which said Turkey had breached a bilateral agreement with Baghdad by allowing Kurdish crude to be exported without the federal government's consent. Baghdad, however, is preconditioning the IOC's attendance at the Sunday meeting in Baghdad on them providing a copy of the production sharing contracts (PSCs) they have with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a source with knowledge of the matter said. "Every IOC was invited and will make their own decision about attending," the source adds. The IOCs have previously complained about being left out of the ongoing conversation between Erbil and Baghdad. But this new development could further complicate the talks, especially since Baghdad considers those contracts illegal, null and void, according to a federal court ruling. Baghdad also says it has "never seen" the IOC contracts. "The oil ministry does not have a copy of the IOCs' contracts with the KRG. We have never seen them," the oil ministry source confirmed to Argus. Baghdad had earlier proposed a middle ground agreement that would see it amend its federal budget to allow it to pay IOCs operating in Kurdistan, in return for a compromise with the KRG and the IOCs over the recovery cost they claim for oil produced in the Kurdish region. Prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on 31 May his government has agreed to amend the budget law, but that the IOCs operating in Iraqi Kurdistan were refusing to amend their existing contracts with the KRG. The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (Apikur), an industry body representing IOCs operating in the northern region, has denied those claims. Apikur in a statement published in May said its members would be willing to consider modifications to existing contracts provided the matter is agreed by Iraq's federal government, the KRG and the firms themselves. By Bachar Halabi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US backtracks on strict fuel-economy standards
US backtracks on strict fuel-economy standards
Washington, 7 June (Argus) — President Joe Biden's administration has pulled back on tough fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks for model years 2027-2031, after automakers balked at the possibility that stricter regulations could trigger billions of dollars in fines. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in a rule finalized today, dropped its proposal to require pickup trucks and SUVs to achieve an average fuel-economy improvement of 4pc/yr. Instead, NHTSA will require no efficiency gains for those vehicles in the first two years of the program and a 2pc/yr gain in model years 2029-2031. For passenger cars, the agency retained a requirement for 2pc/yr fuel-economy improvements. The Biden administration's retreat on fuel-economy effectively will leave it up to a different set of rules — including tailpipe CO2 standards from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California's Advanced Clean Cars II rule — to support the switch to electric vehicles (EVs). By statute, NHTSA cannot factor in EVs when setting fuel-economy standards, which automakers warned could result in them paying billions of dollars in penalties even if they were complying with EPA's regulations. NHTSA expects that under the final rule, the average light-duty vehicle will achieve a fuel-economy of 50.4 miles/USG in model year 2031, substantially less than the 58 miles/USG target the agency expected when it proposed the standards last year. But NHTSA said retaining its original target would have raised vehicle prices too much, in addition to imposing steep fines on automakers. "Non-compliance means that manufacturers are choosing to pay penalties rather than to save fuel," NHTSA said. Automakers cheered the changes to the final rule, which they said would prevent automakers from being subject to penalties that would have "foolishly diverted automaker capital away" from investments in EVs, Alliance for Automotive Innovation president John Bozzella said. NHTSA initially projected the standards could result in manufacturers paying more than $14bn in penalties. "It looks like the left hand knew what the right hand was doing," Bozzella said. "That's the kind of coordination we recommended. So that's good and appreciated." The administration said the new standards will save drivers an average of $600 over the lifetime of newly purchased vehicles. NHTSA estimates the regulation will cut gasoline consumption by 64bn USG through calendar year 2050. "Not only will these new standards save Americans money at the pump every time they fill up, they will also decrease harmful pollution and make America less reliant on foreign oil," US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said. US automakers have pushed for a slowdown in the switch to EVs, citing concerns about limited demand and the availability of charging stations. Although there are now 184,000 publicly available charging ports, a federal program supported with $7.5bn in funding from the 2021 infrastructure law has only built a total of eight charging stations, drawing outcry from Republicans. The buildout of federally funded EV stations has been slowed by issues such as permitting, siting and the time needed to work with states, administration officials say. US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm said the administration expects the peak buildout of chargers will occur in 2027, but acknowledged the difficulty in starting up the program. "Those are the hardest ones," Granholm said at an event Politico held earlier this week. "They're going to places where the private sector hasn't gone because there's no electricity, because they're remote." The final rule disappointed environmentalists, who had hoped the standards would require larger efficiency gains in trucks, minivans and SUVs that accounted for 63pc of new vehicle sales in model year 2022. The administration "caved to automaker pressure with a weak rule" that will waste gasoline and cede the clean vehicle market to foreign automakers, Center for Biological Diversity campaign director Dan Becker said. The outcome, he said, will be vehicles that will "guzzle and pollute for decades." Oil industry groups remained critical of the regulations. NHTSA's fuel-economy standards, when combined with EPA's regulations, "amount to a de facto ban by the administration on the sale of new cars and trucks using liquid fuels," American Petroleum Institute downstream vice president Will Hupman said. The trade group has urged lawmakers to repeal the regulations. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Opec+ output falls in May
Opec+ output falls in May
London, 7 June (Argus) — Opec+ crude output by members subject to cuts fell by 110,000 b/d in May as Russia and Kazakhstan made further headway towards meeting their targets. This left output at its lowest in nearly three years, Argus estimates — at 34.03mn b/d still 110,000 b/d above the group's target for the month, but a marked improvement on the 170,000 b/d overproduction in April. The nine Opec members subject to cuts were 210,000 b/d above target in May, but this was partially offset by the nine non-Opec members, which produced 100,000 b/d below. The biggest fall came from Russia, which reduced output by 180,000 b/d to 9.11mn b/d as it continues to replace a pre-existing export cut pledge with an output cut. Still, it remained 60,000 b/d above its new target for that month. More output falls from Russia are expected, particularly given its pledge to compensate for recent overproduction. The story is similar for Kazakhstan, which reduced output by a notable 70,000 b/d to 1.51mn b/d in May — helped by maintenance at a key field — but it remained 40,000 b/d above target. Iraq's production rose by 20,000 b/d to 4.16mn b/d in May, despite its pledge to finally start shrinking output. This left it at 160,000 b/d above target, making its task of compensating for past production that much harder in the coming months. Gabon overshot its target by 80,000 b/d. All members that have overproduced were expected to submit new plans to Opec detailing how they plan to compensate for it in the first part of the year. The biggest output rise in May came from Nigeria, which boosted production by 80,000 b/d to 1.48mn b/d, just 20,000 b/d shy of its target. Most Mideast Gulf states were more or less in line with their targets in May, although UAE's output rose by 20,000 b/d to 2.95mn b/d, 40,000 b/d above its pledge. Opec+ crude production mn b/d May Apr* May target† ± target Opec 9 21.44 21.32 21.23 0.21 Non-Opec 9 12.59 12.82 12.70 -0.10 Total 34.03 34.14 33.92 0.11 *revised †includes extra cuts agreed in Apr 23 and Nov 23 Opec wellhead production mn b/d May Apr May target* ± target Saudi Arabia 8.96 8.97 8.98 -0.02 Iraq 4.16 4.14 4.00 0.16 Kuwait 2.42 2.41 2.41 0.01 UAE 2.95 2.93 2.91 0.04 Algeria 0.90 0.91 0.91 -0.01 Nigeria 1.48 1.40 1.50 -0.02 Congo (Brazzaville) 0.26 0.28 0.28 -0.02 Gabon 0.25 0.23 0.17 0.08 Equatorial Guinea 0.06 0.05 0.07 -0.01 Opec 9 21.44 21.32 21.23 0.21 Iran 3.29 3.30 na na Libya 1.18 1.22 na na Venezuela 0.84 0.82 na na Total Opec 12† 26.75 26.66 na na *includes extra cuts agreed in Apr 23 and Nov 23 †Iran, Libya and Venezuela are exempt from production targets Non-Opec crude production mn b/d May Apr* May target† ± target Russia 9.11 9.29 9.05 0.06 Oman 0.76 0.76 0.76 0.00 Azerbaijan 0.47 0.48 0.55 -0.08 Kazakhstan 1.51 1.58 1.47 0.04 Malaysia 0.38 0.37 0.40 -0.03 Bahrain 0.19 0.19 0.20 -0.01 Brunei 0.07 0.07 0.08 -0.01 Sudan 0.01 0.01 0.06 -0.05 South Sudan 0.10 0.07 0.12 -0.02 Total non-Opec 12.59 12.82 12.70 -0.10 *revised †includes extra cuts agreed in Apr 23 and Nov 23 Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US adds 272,000 jobs in May, topping expectations
US adds 272,000 jobs in May, topping expectations
Houston, 7 June (Argus) — The US added 272,000 jobs in May, about a third more than forecast, reflecting a labor market that remains robust in the face of Federal Reserve efforts to tamp down inflation by slowing the economy. The job gains followed downwardly revised gains of 165,000 jobs in April and 310,000 in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Average gains in the 12 months prior to May were 232,000 jobs. Economists expected gains of about 185,000 jobs in May, according to a survey by Trading Economics. The jobless rate ticked up to 4pc, the highest in more than two years, from 3.9pc. Still, the unemployment rate remains near five-decade lows. Futures markets after the jobs report indicated a 46pc chance the Fed will hold its target rate unchanged at a 23-year high through September, up from 31pc on Thursday. The Fed has said it needs to see more evidence of inflation slowing towards its 2pc target before it can begin to lower rates after hiking them in 2022-23 at the fastest pace in four decades. Health care added 68,000 jobs in May, in line with gains over the prior 12 months. Government added 43,000 jobs, also near the 12-month rate, while leisure and hospitality gained 42,000 jobs. Professional, scientific and technical services took on 32,000 payrolls, a third more than usual. Retail added 12,000 jobs. Construction added 21,000 jobs and manufacturing added 8,000 jobs. Mining lost 4,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 4.1pc from a year earlier, up from a 4pc annual gain in the prior month. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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